What Happened At Cat Camp NYC In Photos

What Happened At Cat Camp NYC In Photos by Layla Morgan Wilde

Update 2018: In case you missed it. We’re away on a mindful digital detox for the month of May. The idea for a cat camp for cat lovers became a reality last year. We did extensive coverage with our images snagging the top Google images spots. We also happened to be the first to blog about the cute idea ages ago Cat Camp CATastrophe and now wish someone would create an actual cat camp festival like Coachella or CAtchella for cat lovers. It’s inevitable but who?

Cat Camp is on this weekend but let’s take a look back at the feline fun from last year.

On a chilly spring weekend, cat lovers descended in droves to enjoy the first New York cat-centric event of its kind. The consensus? Cat Camp NYC was purrfect. Like all firsts, there can never another first. Events can improve, grow, change but sometimes bigger isn’t better.

Adam Myatt aka the CatMan of West Oakland and co-founder of the first cat cafe in the U.S. spoke on a panel about the business of cat adoption and cat cafes.

Jackson Galaxy was the star attraction and keynote speaker. This year the event was rebranded with his name.

The 60+ vendors and the large cat adoption space filled most of the hall, attracting over 2500 people over the weekend. For someone who hates crowds, it was spacious and never felt stifling. It felt instantly nostalgic, knowing this was the first cat-centric event of its kind never to be repeated. It will likely be bigger next year but bigger isn’t always better. The west coast equivalent, CatConLA keeps growing bigger every year. This year it’s at the Pasadena Convention Center, at 125,000 sq. ft. is too big for my taste (I hate crowds) but two speakers from Cat Camp will be speaking. If you saw Lil Bub and Kitten Lady present at such an intimate venue as Cat Camp, consider yourself very lucky. Their venues keep getting bigger.

Lil Bub was as magical and out of this world as ever and her Dude, Mike Bridavsky was as protective, doting and down to earth as ever. It was great to to spend some private time with them again.

Rising star and passionate kitten advocate, Hannah Shaw aka the Kitten Lady is one to watch. She already has more Instagram followers than Jackson Galaxy. With her live-in love, the cat photographer Andrew Marttila aka @iamthegreatwent (in turquoise) they are change agents for the world of kittens. And yes, that’s me with Hannah wearing a Kitty Roo and a kitty hat. Black-fringed cat lady Kate Benjamin from Hauspanther is battled cancer and sadly won’t be at Cat Camp in 2018.

The pink pussy-hatted cat T from Dancing Cat was purrfect but then again I’m a huge fan of the cards and art work from Jamie Shelman of The Dancing Cat Many of the vendors were local artists like Brooklyn Bay Press and Megan Lynn Kott who designed an exclusive black cat design for us.

What I loved was the fresh, positive vibes. It was the first show for a number of the vendors and their passion showed.

There were several rescue groups with adoptable cats and the always awesome staff and volunteers in red t-shirts from The Mayor’s Alliance For NYC’s Animals

Vendors came from around the corner like the cool designs of LostCatNYC and as far away as Australia like Puss Week. And then it was a wrap for this year. I stayed until the end when all the vendors broke down their booths and I shared a vegan donut and chat with Christina Ha, who spearheaded Cat Camp NYC. She gets full Brownie points for a stellar achievement and envision more success in her future.

The city can be exhausting and I enjoyed a bath with yummy treats from Honey Cat Cosmetics. I met Terri, the owner at the tail end when everyone was feeling bedraggled but not her. She’d given a big bag of goodies to Kitten Lady and was equally generous with me. I always say: you catch more bees with honey. She has a meowvelously quirky sense of humor too. My black cat Clyde approves as my winter dry skin is moisturized to purrfection.

Did you attend last year? How about this year?